


Happy Chrismukkah

by PumpkinDoodles



Series: Merry Christmas, Baby [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-28 04:06:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 12,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15040322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PumpkinDoodles/pseuds/PumpkinDoodles
Summary: At a holiday party at the Sanctum, Darcy Lewis falls instantly for the adorable Scott Lang. She's always been a Mr. Bingley sort of girl and Scott is definitely a Charles Bingley, right down to his happy Labrador smile and funny Wombat crew. Alas, he's already taken, so she has to content herself with brief glimpses of him whenever he's at the new Avengers facility in upstate New York.She doesn't even notice that Bucky Barnes has been hanging around Jane's new lab a lot. That whole brooding thing's never been her deal and it's not like the freaking Winter Soldier likes bespectacled Science! girls, right?





	1. I'd Like You For Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> *I own nothing.

“Okay,” Jane was saying in the other room on the phone, “I love you, too. I’ll see you there. Darcy will be so excited.”

 

From the last of her packing, Darcy looked up and heard Jane. She _was_ excited. Like, stupid excited. They were finally getting the hell out of Norway. Goodbye frozen tundra, goodbye weird smoked fish, goodbye frozen eyelashes for seven months of the year, goodbye riding a half-frozen bicycle to the post office in April. This was going to be the happiest Chrismukkah celebration in the Foster-Lewis Platonic Lifemates4EVA Household in years.

 

Darcy could hear Jane was beaming. She and Thor had finally patched things up after the averted worldwide disaster with that purple-people-eater, Thanos. Somehow, Loki--old SilverTongue himself--had talked Death into sucking him and his army right up. Crisis averted. Of course, there was a catch. Darcy suspected that Loki and Thor thought Death wanted their powers as repayment, but it turned out she wanted their Asgardian lifespans. All of the Asgardians’ lifespans. They were only going to live to be eighty or so now, like humans.

 

She bet that bugged the hell out of Loki, but it seemed to have made Thor weirdly happier. He’d immediately begged Jane to take him back and move in with him in Tony’s upstate Avengers facility. Hence, Darcy’s delight. Where Jane went, Darcy went: _Westward, ho!_ was Darcy’s new motto. She’s been dreaming of American food and tv ever since she heard the news. Maybe Tony could give her a car allowance and she could quit riding a half-frozen bicycle. She’d heard he liked to throw money at problems. More humorously, they were using the facility's land to temporarily resettle the Asgardians who’d made it out of that whole Ragnarok deal. Tony had told the media that they were going to host the Asgardian Games in the summer; he sold a bunch of charity tickets for Pepper’s foundation. He’d plugged it as the alien equivalent of the Highland Games. Darcy was picturing a lot of rock throwing by Sif and Fandral. She wanted to see that shit.

 

“Darce, Thor says the portal will open at precisely seven-thirty!” Jane said.

“Precise times aren’t usually Thor’s deal,” Darcy said musingly. “Portals? I thought a quinjet was coming for our stuff?”

“Yeah, Tony’s sending people for our stuff, but we’re going to a party tonight. This is the Dr. Strange guy. The one I met at that Science! Gala once?” Jane said.

“Wasn’t he a huge asshat?” Darcy said.

“Totally, but apparently, he went from a typical neurosurgeon to a wizard and now he throws non-denominational holiday parties?” Jane said.

“Stranger things have happened,” Darcy punned. “Thor has a phone now.”

“I know!” Jane said, beaming.

***

 

At precisely seven-thirty on the dot, a circle of sparks appeared in their living room and Darcy and Jane stepped into it. They were in a fancy entry hall with mahogany paneling. It was sparkling with magical holiday decor.

“Whoa,” Darcy said. “Very snazzy.”

“It looks like Downton Abbey,” Jane said.

“Or a Pottery Barn holiday catalogue,” Darcy said. Her mom loved that thing. Dr. Strange definitely had a former surgeon’s taste in impressive sprays of fir and lights. She looked closer. They weren’t actually string lights. “Jane, those things are little tiny magical cordless bulbs of some sort,” she said.

“Cool,” Jane said. “I wonder what he’d say about powering my equipment?”

“My Jane! My Lightning Sister!” a loud voice boomed. Thor was barreling towards them at top speed from the adjoining room. Behind him, Loki strolled at a sedate pace.

 

Thor had scooped them both up into a bone-crusher of a hug and was twirling them at the foot of Dr. Strange’s staircase when Darcy realized Loki was actually half-smiling.

 

Loki offered her his arm--very gallantly of him, she thought, remembering that Frigga had good manners--and they followed Jane and Thor into the living room. Once Thor had boomed out that his lady and her platonic lifemate had arrived, Loki announced her very prettily as “Miss Darcy Lewis,” as if they were in a Jane Austen. It motivated Darcy to do an act of holiday kindness that had always been on her mind: she leaned up on her tiptoes towards him and whispered in his ear.

“Jane and I think you were always your mother’s favorite child,” she said. At that, Loki positively glowed. Honestly, Darcy suspected he could become incandescent like Dr. Strange’s holiday bulbs. He insisted on escorting her around the room, introducing her to all the famous superheroes and keeping her drink refilled via magic.

She got to meet a whole array of supe-celebrities: from the elegant ones who made her feel slightly underdressed (Dr. Strange, Hank Pym, Hope Van Dyne) to the fun ones (Tony, some guys called the Wombats, Bruce Banner, the Adorable Spiderboy, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson) and finally, the very cool faction (Wong, the Black Widow, Captain America, The Winter Soldier, War Machine, and the Black Panther). But her last introduction of the night was the most memorable.

Darcy had always thought that love at first sight was one of those things that only happened when you were Jane and a handsome blonde Asgardian dropped from the sky, but when Loki tapped a dark-haired man on the shoulder, she reassessed her opinion.

  
“Miss Lewis, Scott Lang. He is the Ant Man,” Loki said.

“Hi,” Scott Lang said, shaking her hand. “I hear you tased Thor.” Scott Lang was handsome in exactly that nerdy, cheerful way she’d always liked. She’d always been more of a Mr. Bingley girl than a Mr. Darcy girl. Brooding was overrated.

“She did,” Loki said, grinning. “Very adeptly.” To Darcy, Loki whispered, “He is surprisingly useful and has a master’s degree.” Then--seeing her expression of utter smittenness--Loki disappeared in a shower of red and green sparks.

“Look at that,” Darcy said. “He usually never strays from green. Red’s Thor’s color.”

“We’re all feeling festive now that the world isn’t ending, I guess?” Scott said.

“What are your plans?” Darcy asked him.

“I dunno, head back to California, see if they’ll take me back at Baskin-Robbins?” Scott said jokingly. Then he told her food service stories until she was practically rolling on the floor. They traded nightmare jobs stories all night.

 

It was only later that Darcy realized that Scott and Hope had an on-and-off thing, sort of like Tony and Pepper, only less obvious. Jane pulled her aside and told her in Strange’s kitchen. She tried not to let her disappointment show too much. It must have been a little obvious, though, because Loki shimmered over and actually apologized. “I did think he was single. They are a very...unlikely pair,” the Asgardian said. “You and he are much more suitable.”

“That’s very nice of you to say,” Darcy said, smiling at him. “I appreciate it.” With more of that odd gallantry, Loki kept her company all night and even magicked her up some little earrings. They were little living snow globes of New York City. The snow inside them fell continuously without accumulating.

“I had heard you do not celebrate Christmas exactly, just Chrismukkah,” he said curiously.

“It’s a combined holiday. I’m the Hanukkah half of the household,” she said. “But I’ll accept presents for any and all holidays and I really like decorated trees.”

“Ah,” Loki said, “allow me to demonstrate.” He took her out in the foyer again and they designed a Chrismukkah tree for the lab together. To Darcy’s delight, he could make a metal one in any color--from silver to hot pink. He even got one of the ornaments to play her Julie London’s “I’d Like You for Christmas.”

  
***

Darcy was so taken by Scott and subsequently consoled by Loki that she never noticed that Bucky Barnes couldn’t take his eyes off her all night.

“Got a crush there, Buck?” Steve asked him.

“Shut up, Punk,” Bucky said.

“She’s gonna be living with us now, you know,” Steve said. “Starting tonight.”

 


	2. Christmas in New Orleans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decorations courtesy of HRH Loki of Asgard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing! Thanks for all the comments and support.

The next day, Jane and Darcy were planning to unpack their new lab. Only there was a small delay. Tony stopped by to say the quinjet was stuck in Norway. None of their Science! stuff was here yet to unpack. They only had their bags with personal stuff. Darcy had convinced Dr. Strange to portal them between his party, Norway, and the facility before they’d finally crashed into their new beds. “No Science! until New Year’s,” Tony said. “I’m sorry.”

“The curse of Snowlandia strikes again!” Darcy said. Thankfully, she had her phone and phone speakers to play music.

“She really hated Norway,” Jane explained to Tony.

“I could have literally kissed you when you convinced her to move here,” Darcy said to Tony.

Tony looked her up and down. “Pep might be offended and you’re a little young for me, Short Stack, but I could be convinced…” he said, grinning.

 

“Perhaps a pretext could be arranged,” a wry voice said behind Tony. It was Loki, accompanied by Thor. He magicked a bit of mistletoe above Tony’s head and Darcy obliged with a chaste kiss on Tony’s cheek. Then, of course, Thor kissed everyone with enthusiasm.

 

“It’s a very interesting custom,” Loki said to Darcy, as Thor was kissing Tony for a second time. “I’m surprised Thor isn’t carrying that around with him.”

“Brother! I would love to. Make me a portable toe of the mistle,” Thor said, his arms around Tony and Jane. “I must introduce our comrades to this wonderful custom.”

Loki waved his arm and suddenly Thor had a mistletoe-decked Asgardian horned hat. Tony and Jane burst into laughter, but Thor only looked pleased. He led the other two out to visit the Asgardians who were currently living in adjacent building to the main one.

“You’re not going, too?” Darcy asked Loki.

“No, I thought I’d bring you your Chrismukkah tree,” he said, making another gesture. The tree appeared, all bright with tinsel and ornaments, in the center of the empty lab. They’d gone with bright Grinch green, since Jane had an aversion to pink. The little living ornaments were Darcy’s favorite part. Loki magicked her speaker, too, so that holiday music began to play.

Darcy clapped. “It’s wonderful!” she said.

“Thank you. Also,” Loki admitted quietly, “there are a lot of Asgardians out there. I’m not their favorite person at this particular moment.”

“That must be difficult,” Darcy said. She wondered if he needed a taser.

“You have no idea. Oh, I forgot,” Loki said, “I made you a little one. I saw how much you liked the other color.” A tiny pink tree appeared on Darcy’s empty desk.

 

Darcy was so delighted that she offered to hide him from the Asgardians for the foreseeable future.

“If only you could,” he said.

“You can go anywhere, right?” she asked him. From the speaker, Louis Armstrong was singing one of her favorite songs.

“Yes?” he said.

“There’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go at Christmastime,” she said. “I finally have a big fat check from Tony, too. So, I can afford it. Want to go?” she said. Loki nodded.

 

***

When Jane returned to the lab with Steve and Bucky, she found it empty, save for a bunch of magical decorations.

“Where did she go?” Jane wondered aloud.

“Wow,” Steve said, looking at the tree.

“Looks like she left you a note, Jane,” Bucky said. “It’s by this little tree.”

 

In Darcy’s handwriting, there was a glittery note: _Gone to New Orleans with Loki. Will be back before the 25th. Love, DEL._ The bottom was signed, too. _Decorations courtesy of HRH Loki of Asgard._

 

***

“Cheer up, Buck,” Steve told his friend at dinner. “She’ll be back soon.”

“Do you think this is a romantic trip?” Bucky asked.

“Nope,” Steve said.

“How do you know?” Bucky said skeptically.

“I asked Thor. Apparently, Loki has some unrequited thing with that lady Sif. Only, she tries to smite him if he looks at her sideways,” Steve said. Bucky nodded; he could imagine that. “Also, he’s trying to make friends with Darcy because of Jane,” Steve said.

  


***

Loki looked up at St. Louis Cathedral. “This place is very beautiful for Midgard.”

“It’s called Jackson Square,” Darcy said. “I’ve always wanted to be somewhere warm for Christmas.”

“And, look, they have carriages,” he said. “Do you want to ride in one?”

“That would be lovely,” Darcy said.

 

If she ignored that he magicked the carriage and the driver so that they could go all around the French Quarter that night and then somehow found them both balcony rooms that overlooked Bourbon Street, well, this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, right?

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagining magical ornaments is my favorite part of this.


	3. Zat You, Santa Claus?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lagniappe  
> Borrowed from Louisiana Creole French 'lagniappe.'  
> An extra or unexpected gift or benefit, such as that given to customers when they purchase something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing! Thanks for all your support.

The next day, she and Loki hit up Cafe du Monde for beignets and coffee. “I like this town,” Loki said, “this is a pleasant Midgardian place. It has energy that I like a great deal.” Darcy smiled; they’d spotted a fair number of goth teens, some tourists day-drinking, a holiday brass band and a ton of wrought iron. Of course, this was Loki’s favorite Midgardian town, it was Anne Rice’s favorite town, too. She had taken photos of everything with her phone and sent it to Jane, though.

“You’re being very kind,” Darcy said to him, curious.

“I suddenly have less time than I anticipated,” he said seriously. “But I still have my powers, so I’d like to be useful and enjoy the time I have. Maybe make amends to some people.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Darcy told him.

“I could use a friend,” he said quietly.

“You’ve got me and Jane,” she said.

“Do I?” Loki said. She nodded.

“Whoops, you got powdered sugar on your sleeve,” Darcy said, brushing it off.

“Thank you,” he said, smiling. It was a genuine smile.

“Oh, I have to get evidence of you eating beignets!” Darcy said. She snapped his photo. He grinned and held up his coffee cup, so she could take another.

 

***

In the facility living room, Jane was laughing. “I cannot believe that she’s got Loki eating donuts,” she said.

“This I gotta see,” Tony said. “Whoa, it’s Point Break’s brother smiling and looking almost pleasant. His hair is even clean. She _is_ the best people wrangler, Jane.” Jane had bragged about Darcy’s people skills. “Oh, look, they went to Antoine’s,” Tony said, swiping. “I should take Pep there sometime.”

Tony went around the room showing everyone the photos that Darcy had sent Jane. Bruce and Thor both smiled; Natasha looked faintly impressed, Clint Barton chuckled at the day drinkers, and Steve looked at St. Louis Cathedral.

“That cathedral is real pretty,” Captain America said. “Back in our day, New Orleans was considered a grand town.”

Next to him, Bucky looked a little sad. “A romantic town,” he said softly, rubbing his metal arm. “With lots of jazz music.”

 

***

She stopped at Bourbon French Perfumes to buy gifts for Jane. Loki trailed behind her, humming along to “Zat you, Santa Claus?” and carrying their other purchases. He looked very dashing in his black suit and green tie, actually.

“What do you think of this orange blossom one for Jane?” she asked him, waving a strip under his nose. “She likes light, fresh things,” Darcy told him.

“Very nice,” he said thoughtfully. “Which one are you getting for you?”

“I hadn’t planned on it,” Darcy said.

“You never know when you might need something pretty,” Loki said, winking.

“Are you matchmaking again?” she said, smiling.

He shrugged elegantly. While she decided on something for herself, Loki had a long and apparently detailed conversation with the shop owner about their men’s colognes. She picked out something called Lady Evangeline that smelled like vanilla and almonds.

 

When they left, Loki magicked their gifts back to the hotel. He had tickets for a jazz concert at Tipitina’s.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bourbon French Parfums is a real place in the French Quarter. Someone brought me back some Lady Evangeline perfume from their Lagniappe Oaks line once. I love it, it smells yummy.


	4. All of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In all my AUs, Darcy is a TCM fan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing. Thanks for all the comments and support!

Darcy and Loki returned to upstate New York in a spray of green and red glitter. “We brought presents!” Darcy said.

“It was a very pleasant trip,” Loki said, looking almost cheery. “I am very fond of New Orleans.”

“I'm not sure if it's the music or the day-drinking,” Darcy whispered to Jane. Jane nodded and Thor beamed. Thor was enjoying his brother having a friend wholeheartedly.

They distributed presents like Santa and Mrs. Claus. Vision and Wanda Maximoff were off somewhere peaceful on vacation for awhile, but Darcy bought Wanda a silver ring she might like. Natasha and Pepper received simple, discreet fleur de lis jewelry (Darcy had tried to pick things that coordinated with Nat’s Widow’s Bites and Pep’s Mont Blanc pens, respectively). Steve got a book with photographs of Louisiana landmarks Darcy thought he might want to paint; Loki had picked out colognes for Clint, Sam, Tony, and Thor. There was an assortment of pralines, candies, and gag gifts to be sent to Scott, Hope, and the Wombats in California and a second, less risque one for all the Bartons.

In response to her complete befuddlement at what to buy Vision, Loki had diplomatically suggested a tie. Everyone laughed at the Dr. Bob’s “Be Nice or Leave” sign that they’d got for Bruce’s lab.

  
***

Darcy came over to Bucky, holding his unwrapped gift. “Steve mentioned you liked to dance. I thought you might enjoy an actual record,” she told him. “Old songs, new artist. We’ve got a record player coming with the lab equipment.”

At that, Tony snorted. “Records? What is this, 1934?”

“Yeah, Tony, back when you were a gleam in your father’s eye,” Darcy said.

“That’s Myrna Loy,” Steve said. “I understood that reference.”

“You bet it is, Captain,” Darcy said, smiling. “The Lewis-Foster Platonic Lifemate Household recognizes TCM as our official channel.”

“Where are your five more martinis?” Steve asked.

“I don’t know,” Darcy said. “Somebody stole my little dog, too.” In front of Darcy, a row of five martinis appeared on the coffee table. From across the room, Loki winked at her. “Thanks!” she said, waving at him.

“You better not give her a dog. No dogs!” Tony yelled. Clint--who had perked up at the word dog--looked disappointed.

“Y’all want some of these martinis?” Darcy said to Steve and Bucky. She’d picked up y’all in New Orleans. She thought it might come in handy working with so many people.

“You got Ingrid Lucia to sign it?” Bucky said finally, looking at the sleeve curiously.  

“Yes,” Darcy said. “Loki and I saw her in concert. It’s just too bad we don’t have a record player here yet.”

Next to Darcy’s martini, one appeared. She shot Loki a thumbs up and mouthed “you’re awesome!” across the room.

“It’s very pretty,” Bucky said, when “All of Me” started to play.

“I thought so, too,” Darcy said, smiling. Bucky smiled back, but Darcy missed his great smile. She was distracted by a theft in progress. “Hey, don’t let Clint steal all those pralines. Those are for everybody,” she called out and hurried away. Clint was trying to disappear into a vent.

“You should ask her to dance,” Steve said when she was far enough away. “You used to be good at that sort of thing.”

“Yeah, back when Tony was a gleam in Howard’s eye,” Bucky said. “I’d ask you how it’s done now, but you don’t know, either.” Sharon and Steve were in a will-they-won’t-they, what with the whole Avengers dispute and the End of the World that wasn’t.

“Nope, I don’t,” Steve admitted, laughing.

They were silent for a few minutes.

“I thought you might reunite with Natasha,” Steve said quietly.

“Nah,” Bucky said. “I think me shooting her and then not remembering her mighta put the kibosh on that one. That and Banner.” Nat and Bruce seemed to be quietly making eyes at each other.

“I do not understand that at all,” Steve confessed.

“Nope,” Bucky said, laughing. It was a few minutes before he spoke again. “I’m not exactly the same, Punk.”

 

As he watched Darcy--looking gorgeous in a red dress--sit on the arm of Loki’s chair and laugh at something Thor was saying, Bucky really wished he was that guy again. The old Bucky had known how to flirt and hadn’t been afraid to flirt with Peggy Carter. He might’ve struck out, but he still tried.

That night, Bucky took the magical record player back to his room and listened to his Chrismukkah gift. The player never needed to be restarted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My version of Bucky hasn't quite figured out how to flirt in the 21st century. He's gonna be a quicker learner than Steve, though.


	5. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Stark fancy dress affair
> 
> (ch. update 1 of 2 for the afternoon of 6/25)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing. Thanks for all your comments and kudos!

That week, Tony threw a big fancy dress holiday party that turned into mad shindig. That was the usual course of events with Tony’s parties. What was unusual was the presence of so many Asgardians drinking out of the booze fountains and threatening to hang from the chandeliers with axes.

Loki and Darcy agreed to be each other’s friend dates. “You look lovely,” Loki said to Darcy sincerely, as they walked behind Jane and Thor towards Tony’s ballroom. She’d chosen an emerald green dress for him.

“You look great, too.” He was always very elegant, she thought. Even his magic had a certain style.

“May I add something?” he asked politely.

“Of course,” Darcy said.

“Close your eyes,” he asked, drawing her hands out. She did and he waved a hand over hers. A beautiful tiara appeared. It had oak leaves made of diamonds and delicate rubies as berries. They matched her lipstick. When Darcy saw it, she gasped.

“It’s amazing. You made that with magic?” she said. “It feels absolutely real. It has weight and everything.”

“It will be real,” he said softly, “as long as I live. You can wear it to all of Tony’s parties.”

 

Jane glanced behind her and saw them. “I know you told me he is still carrying a torch for Sif, but is it possible?” she asked Thor.

“I do not think he would give up his affection for her,” Thor said in an unusually solemn voice, shaking his head. “It has lasted centuries without any encouragement from her.”

“Are you sure about that?” Jane asked. Thor glanced backwards and almost stopped. Loki was very carefully pinning the tiara in Darcy’s hair with an expression of mingled concentration and happiness.

“I suppose it is possible,” Thor said quietly. Loki had long ago learned magic to cloak the true direction of his heart, even from a god of fertility and love. With his brother, Thor had to rely on observation alone.

 

***

Loki and Darcy certainly seemed on the verge of a serious romance to onlookers. “I didn’t know your homicidal brother could dance so well, Point Break,” Tony said.

“Aye, he is a good dancer. Also, a good hand-to-hand knife fighter. They are very similar skills,” Thor said seriously, before he and Jane joined them on the dance floor.

“Is he actually waltzing?” Clint asked.

“Sure looks like it,” Steve said. To Bucky, he whispered, “Go cut in, pal.”

“Nah,” Bucky said, rubbing his metal arm. “I haven’t waltzed in, oh, seventy years. Had both arms then.” He watched Darcy as she laughed at something Loki said. Her whole face lit up.

 

***

“I turn into Steve and I think he’s finally lost it because he shoves me up against a pillar,” Loki was telling her as they shifted from waltzing to a different dance, “but it turned out there was just a passing guard.”

“Did he ever give you an actual weapon?” Darcy asked.

“No,” Loki said cheerfully.  “He actually cuffed me, the sneak. Stole my line and everything. I was rather proud of him.”

“So, I’ve always wanted to know,” she asked him, “when you magick into someone, does their stuff work?”

“Their _stuff?”_ Loki asked her, laughing. “Just what stuff are you referring to, Darcy Elizabeth Lewis?” He gave her a naughty wink.

“No, no, I mean their weapons! Like, would a magical replica of Steve’s shield work like his actual shield? Does the magic armor work?” she asked.

“Oh, I’ve never had the opportunity to test that particular trick,” he said, twirling her around. When he caught her from behind he whispered, “the other _stuff,_ that I’ve tested. It turns out that does work.”

“What?” Darcy said, turning back to face him.

“If you kiss someone as Captain America, they think they’ve kissed Captain America,” he said. “Or my brother. Theoretically, anyway. I might have impersonated someone else.”

“Who?” Darcy said, “who did you play in that trick?”

“Well, Fandral liked people to think he’d dated half of Asgard, but he really lacked time and talent, so he might have asked me to help out on occasion,” Loki said. “I just acted as a ladies’ escort. A few dances, some witty conversation, the odd moonlight kiss now and again. It was very chaste, really. Added to his reputation.”

“Oh my God,” Darcy said.

“Did you really think he was that charming?” Loki asked her.

“Honestly, no,” Darcy said. “This makes so much more sense. Oh em gee. Can I tell Jane?”

“If it pleases you,” Loki said, smiling.

 

When the music shifted to a slow song, Darcy leaned her jeweled head against his shoulder. “Thank you for being my friend,” Loki said quietly, looking down at her.

“I’m having a wonderful time with you,” she told him honestly. He smiled at that. It was something that he’d heard rarely in the centuries.

 

***

Sif was watching Darcy and Loki dance closely from one wall. “Something bothering you?” Skurge asked her as he walked over, swigging his beer.

“A woman who parleys with the Trickster is an unlucky one,” Sif said to Skurge. Long ago, Loki had done something to her golden hair when they were children and she’d never forgiven him. Hogun had expressed to Fandral once--eons before their deaths at the hands of Hela--that perhaps there was something interesting in Loki’s making Sif resemble him, not his brother. Of course, Skurge knew nothing of this. What did Skurge know?

A few minutes later, Sif left quietly.

It meant that she missed Bucky Barnes tentatively asking to cut in and Loki’s elegant retreat from the dance floor. What no one knew but Loki was that he’d magicked the band into playing a slow song: Ella Fitzgerald’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” He had an idea that an old song might wake old skills. In one man, at least.

“Why are you smiling, brother?” Thor asked him.

“I am pleased that Sgt. Barnes has finally worked up the nerve to ask my friend to dance,” Loki said. “It only took a little magic.”

“Just a friend?” Thor asked softly. “Jane and I had hoped…”

“Alas, I disappoint you again,” Loki said, shaking his head. “And at Chrismukkah, too.”

“Mother would want you to be happy,” Thor said, playing his trump card.

“Whoever said I was not happy to have Miss Lewis as a friend?” Loki replied.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise Loki will do something reasonably wicked at some point, he's just being a doll right now. 
> 
> Darcy's tiara is based on a real one, currently owned by the Danish royal family: http://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2016/08/the-danish-ruby-parure-tiara.html


	6. My Evergreen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in the Science! again
> 
> (ch. update 2 of 2 for the afternoon of 6/25)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing. Thanks for the comments and support!

When Jane’s Science! stuff finally arrived, luckily before New Year’s, they were all happy to return to the lab. Darcy was bringing in coffee that morning with some assistance from Loki. “Jane,” she said, laughing, “I wish you’d been there. He told the barista that he was a psychic detective!” Darcy had introduced Loki to the tv show _Psych_. He was now pretending to read minds and giving Darcy elaborate aliases.

“She believed me,” Loki said. “Even when I called you my assistant, Melodia Y. Evergreen.” He snorted.

“Melodia Y. Evergreen?” a voice said from down low. Bucky Barnes was on the floor, reassembling some of Jane’s machines from underneath. His Wakandan metal arm was good at that apparently.

“Ah, Sergeant Barnes, how delightful,” Loki said. He meant it to be genuine, but Bucky twitched a fraction. He still wasn’t used to anyone except Steve looking at him without fear.

“A Squirrel Nut Zippers pun?” Jane asked. Loki nodded, smiling.

“Hi, Sarge!” Darcy said cheerfully. She’d had a nice time dancing with Bucky, even if he barely spoke. His eyes were a very beautiful shade of grey-blue and a little sad, she thought. She wondered if he would feel better with a makeover. She’d seen those WWII era photographs of clean-cut Bucky.  That messy hair hid a killer—she almost snorted herself at the macabre irony—pair of cheekbones. It was almost a pity.

Her people wrangler side wanted to give him a shave, a fresh haircut, and a change of clothes. He tended to wander around in scruffy tank shirts and sweatpants now. It gave him a Brando in _Streetcar Named Desire_ vibe, but she wasn’t sure if that was his intent. Tony liked to fiddle with his metal arm a lot; they’d come to a tentative truce when the world hadn’t ended. She suspected Bucky wore sleeveless shirts so Tony could tinker without Bucky having to be half-naked in the labs. They had glass walls, after all.

 

As if he could read her mind, Bucky eased out from under a machine and fiddled with his man bun. Little strands of hair tumbled out. “Is this all you need?” he asked Jane.  

“Yes, thank you. You’re welcome to stay. Steve tells me you like Science?” Jane said.

“I’m interested,” Bucky said quietly.

“We definitely Science! ‘round these parts and you are welcome to a muffin,” Darcy said. “We have chocolate chip, double chocolate, and orange cranberry.”

“What about the pumpkin cream cheese?” Loki said, pretending to ‘read’ the bag’s contents psychically, with one finger on his temple.

“Hands off, that one is mine,” Darcy said.

“I wouldn’t take it,” Bucky said, giving her a tentative little smile. Loki swiped both of the double chocolates and promptly disappeared with a wink.

“He’s as bad as Thor about chocolate,” Jane said.

“They don’t have chocolate on Asgard,” Darcy told Bucky.

“They don’t?” he said, rubbing his metal arm.

“If you ever need to bribe an Asgardian, they will totally do whatever you need for a bag of Hershey’s mini assorted,” Darcy said.

“May I have an orange cranberry?” he asked politely, reaching out with his non-metal hand.

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” she said cheerfully. She noticed he tended to favor his non-metal arm when interacting with people.

“You bribe many Asgardians, doll?” Bucky asked, giving her a real grin this time. Darcy thought it changed his whole face.

“I may or may not have bribed my way into several Asgardian buildings on my one and only trip,” she said.

“Then Odin banned her for life,” Jane piped up.

“He was always banning people for life, that’s hardly a distinction of merit,” Darcy argued back. Bucky laughed.

 

***

 

A series of strange things happened over the next several days: the Asgardians found themselves unable to set bonfires after Tony complained about facility grounds damage and the grounds themselves became impervious to injury.  “Remind me to get Point Break’s brother to fix them like that for the Asgardian Games, Pep,” Tony said to Pepper one afternoon. “Hey, what is that? With Clint? Is that a hologram of a dog?” He peered out the window and Pepper came to stand next to him.

Outside, Clint appeared to be walking a dog, only it was a grainy black and white dog, as if it was made of old film particles. A small wirehaired fox terrier. It took off barking after some of the Asgardians and they scattered. They knew magic when they saw it.

“Asta!” Clint yelled. “That’s not a clue, buddy.”

That week, Jane also noticed that all her equipment seemed to be mysteriously breaking. It only seemed to work again once Bucky had fiddled with it, so she asked him to hang around. Darcy--very busy helping Tony and Pepper plan for an onslaught of New Year’s visitors that included the dreamy Scott--didn’t seem to notice Bucky's warm glances.

 

***

Thor did, though. “I see what you are doing, brother. You are usurping my traditional role,” he told Loki teasingly.

“I have no idea to what you are referring,” Loki said politely, practicing changing the red and green and blue and silver facility decorations to various NYE colors. Pepper was due any minute to decide which was her favorite. “I am rather partial to this shade that the Midgardians are calling rose gold,” Loki said.

“Rose gold?” Thor asked.

“It is merely copper and gold, but they find unusually pleasant names for things on occasion,” Loki said. As soon as Loki saw Pepper walking towards them, he magicked one ornament to sing Auld Lang Syne, just to set a mood.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "My Evergreen" is a really great Squirrel Nut Zippers holiday song. I assume Darcy has been listening to it around Loki.
> 
> *I had a very clever, very mischievous poodle-papillon mix named Asta who passed away a few years ago, so this Asta bit is mostly a tribute to him. He got into all kinds of interesting scrapes: he slept in his toy bin, once got some Christmas tulle and decorated the living room while we were asleep, and ate a copy of The Thin Man (the book) that I'd checked out from the library. I had to take the pieces in, tell them he ate his namesake, and pay for another copy! Miss that kid like crazy.


	7. Rum and Coca-Cola

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where'd that dog come from?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing! Thanks for all your kudos and support.

Darcy volunteered to give Scott and the Wombats the official facility tour when they arrived. “Why don’t you tag along, Sargeant Barnes?” Loki suggested to him politely, sipping his coffee in the facility’s kitchen. Darcy had gone off to make a big “Welcome Wombats and Ant-Man” sign with her arts and crafts supplies.

“What?” Bucky said from the dining table. He was playing with one of Tony’s little gadgets. This one was supposedly an automatic cheese grater, army knife, corkscrew, and all-purpose tool. Bucky liked mechanical things.

“A sign of your commitment to peaceful relations?” Loki suggested. “You did duel with the Ant Man during that whole airport business, did you not?”

“Yup, he did,” Clint said, tossing a ball for Asta on the couch. Once Loki had gotten him a dog, Clint had decided to bury the hatchet with Thor’s brother. He was hoping Loki would let him take Asta back to Iowa. The kids wanted a dog, too.

“I’m quite glad my brother did not participate,” Loki said to Clint. Bucky looked at the dog.

“How’d you get Nick Charles’s dog here exactly?” Bucky asked, curious. He and Steve had seen the movies during their original run.

“Magic,” Loki told him.

“Yeah, I know, but are there any specifics to it?” Bucky asked. Clint raised an eyebrow.

“I’m curious about that myself,” the archer said.

“There may a film print somewhere that is missing it’s dog,” Loki admitted. “But that museum never uses that print for screenings. Could be years before they know he’s even gone.”

On the floor, Asta tugged at Clint’s pant leg and growled.

 

***

Somehow, Loki talked Bucky into following him to the lab where Darcy was crafting. “I do wonder about this glitter glue that she keeps mentioning,” Loki said conversationally.

“I don’t know what that is,” Bucky said, suddenly realizing how much little Stevie must’ve felt like a third wheel all those years ago.

 

She was working at a long lab table. Darcy looked up at them and beamed. “Hey, y’all!” she said. “Come and help.” For a second, all Bucky’s worries faded. He thought it was especially odd when Loki scooted out the chair nearest Darcy by magic and offered it to him, while he took the chair opposite. Didn’t a fella usually want to sit next to his girl?

Loki was actually laughing at the mess that glitter made when he suddenly stopped. He tilted his head to one side. “I do believe I hear an Asgardian trying to set something on fire,” he said, sighing. “I should investigate.” With a tiny bow, he vanished from his chair.

“He took all the green glitter glue,” Darcy said.

“He did,” Bucky said. “You think he’ll glue all the culprits together?”

“Oh, I hope so,” she said. Then she asked Bucky how he liked the labs. “Jane thought you might want a job with Science!, Buck? Would you like that?”

“Wouldn’t kick a job offer with Tony’s money out of bed for eating crackers,” Bucky said. As soon as he said it, he thought it sounded odd, but Darcy seemed to find it hilarious. She asked Friday to send them up some crackers.

 

“You seen Asta yet?” Bucky asked Darcy, remembering that she liked those _Thin Man_ movies, too.

“He sleeps in my room,” Darcy said. “Last night, he ate some of my sandals. I still don’t know how he got them out of the closet,” she said.

“He was a trained movie dog, maybe he can open doors,” Bucky said, grinning.

“Oh God, I bet he can,” Darcy said, looking up. The full force of Bucky Barnes’s happy smile took her breath away a little. Or maybe the markers and glue were just making her feel so light-headed.

“Your boyfriend can sure do some magic, doll,” Bucky said finally. 

“Oh, we’re not together,” Darcy told him.

“You’re not?” Bucky asked, biting his lip.

“I'm free as a bird,” Darcy told him. He actually laughed then. It was marvelous to see his face transform.

 

They spent several hours together, just talking about music and old movies. Friday even started playing old songs for them, when Bucky told her he was an Andrews Sisters fan. “I always wanted to swing dance,” Darcy said. “I keep meaning to take lessons.”

“Well, doll, this thing is drying”--he pointed to the banner--”so let’s find us a clear spot and I’ll show ya,” Bucky said.

Steve had been right. Bucky did like to dance. He didn’t even seem to mind holding her with his metal arm, as they practiced in the hallway. No one else came around. It was like the floor had been magicked to give them privacy, Darcy thought later.

“Hey, doll,” Bucky said, as he twirled her around, “can I reserve a spot on your dance card for New Year’s?”

“Absolutely,” Darcy said. She was having a great time.

For a minute, at the end of “Rum and Coca-Cola,” she thought Bucky might actually kiss her, too. Those markers were really getting to her.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Bucky would have been an Andrews Sisters guy back in the day. 
> 
> There's a fantastic gif of Sebastian Stan biting his lip as a journalist asks him a question and then laughing in response. It's super-duper cute: https://pin.it/ivbzig4fomo3vn


	8. Says My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometime before NYE. The lyrics to "Says My Heart" might be significant.
> 
> (update 1 of 2 for the afternoon of 6/26)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing! Thanks for all the comments and kudos!

“She told me they weren’t a couple, too,” Bucky told Steve that night. They were sitting in Bucky’s apartment in the facility, eating pizza. Delivery pizza was one of those things that both Bucky and Steve were secretly thrilled by. It hadn’t existed when they were young kids in Brooklyn.

“Told ya, Buck,” Steve said, smiling at his slice of pepperoni. He loved pepperoni. “Whatcha going to do now?”

“I’ve asked her to reserve me some dances for New Year’s,” Bucky said.

“You could ask her to dinner?” Steve said hopefully. “It’s going to be a packed house, she might like to get out and about.”

 

***

The California contingent's arrival day dawned sunny and clear, despite the cold. Darcy, Jane, and Bucky met the quinjet. Scott was just as dreamy and kind as Darcy remembered and Hope just as stylish, but the Wombats were even more hilarious. Hope disappeared on fancy executive business with Pepper, but not before she demonstrated how to land a right hook for Darcy. Aside from being the significant other of Darcy’s perfect man, Hope was really quite cool. She was very into the idea of Nat running a ladies' self-defense workshop after the holidays. “I might stick around for that,” she told Darcy. "It would terrify some male executives to find out I've trained with the Black Widow."

 

The Wombats all packed into Jane’s lab, eating Darcy’s peanut M&Ms stash and providing commentary while Scott helped Jane with a prototype. Jane was laughing so hard at Luis that she couldn’t talk. Darcy tried not to be weirded out when the ants seemed to watch her and Bucky curiously. They’d lined up in a row along her desk.

“No touching the candy,” Scott told them firmly, as he hammered one of Jane’s Science! Thingies together.

“You’re real good at this,” Bucky said quietly.

“I’ve got a master’s degree,” Scott said, grinning. “Not just in bubble yum ice cream and theft, I swear, Sgt. Barnes.” Scott was sort of starstruck by Captain America’s best buddy, not that Bucky realized.

Darcy laughed. “Scott and I both worked a series of terrible retail and fast food jobs. I was a Dairy Derby Girl,” she told Bucky.

“Did you have to wear the softserve hat and the jockey uniform?” Scott asked her.

“Oh my God, I’d forgotten about those!” she said, laughing. She pulled up a photo of the hats on her phone for Bucky. They were shaped like swirls of ice cream.

“They make you wear those to work?” Bucky asked incredulously.

“It’s a mad, mad, world, sir,” Scott said, cranking up Jane’s machine. “We got it!”

“Bucky is really good at mechanical repairs. He’s been keeping us going while we deal with some bugs from moving,” Darcy told Scott. “Whoops. Not your kind of bugs,” Darcy said, apologetically, to the ants.

“I try,” Bucky said, in that quiet voice.

“That’s really impressive, dude,” Scott said. “Your whole deal is pretty cool,” he said to Bucky, gesturing at his arm. “Is that new?”

“Uh-huh, got it in Wakanda,” Bucky said.

“Tony’s been driving him crazy, trying to get his hands on Wakandan technology,” Darcy said, touching Bucky’s arm.

“Jane, I got this for you,” Scott said, calling her over.

 

Bucky found himself leaning into Darcy’s touch with a slight inhale. “Hey,” Bucky leaned down and whispered, “would you like to sneak off with me for dinner sometime, Dairy girl?”

“Yeah,” Darcy said, laughing. “I’d love to.”

“Tonight?” he offered quietly. “It’s so busy, no one will miss us. Pick you up at seven, doll?”

“Sounds good,” Darcy said. She found Bucky’s company very restful compared to Tony and a houseful of guests--and ants. She’d been told they needed their own dinner table. Tony had decided on reconfiguring the dining room into multiple smaller tables for the duration of their stay.

 

As she was getting ready, Darcy asked Friday to play the Andrews Sisters’ songs for her. Who knew that polka was fun? Bucky, she bet. He really wasn’t as broody as she’d thought.

 

***

On his way to dinner---he was following Jane, Scott, and the Wombats to meet Thor--Loki happened into Sif.

“Hello, Loki,” she said.

“Hello, Sif,” he said quietly. “Are you joining us for dinner tonight? Or are they roasting something in the hall?” Loki asked her. The Asgardians had their own dining hall in the other building. It got raucous. Thor tended to take two meals: one in the main building with Tony’s group--where he did not drop things--and a second one in the hall, where he enthusiastically threw them.

“I had planned on it,” Sif said. “I would not want to trouble Tony.”

“I do not think you would,” Loki said carefully, offering her his arm. He kept his expression neutral.

“What about your Miss Lewis?” Sif said. There was a touch of asperity in her tone.

“At present, I believe her to be on a date with Sargeant Barnes,” he said softly.

“A date?” Sif asked, confused.

“Alas, she has thrown me over for the good Captain’s comrade,” Loki said, giving Sif a distressed look. He looked for all the world like a sad puppy.

Sif bristled on his behalf. “How dare she,” the warrior said. “You are the better man.”

“Yet I am all alone,” Loki replied, hiding his grin.

“Not tonight, you will not be," Sif said defensively.

***

 

If Loki used all his charms that night--bewitching the corner of the dining room where they sat a little apart from the larger group to be romantically dark and presenting Sif with a spray of gardenia blooms--she did not stop him.

“These are beautiful,” Sif said, inhaling the flowers’ scent.

“I discovered them in New Orleans, they are a Midgardian tropical flower,” Loki told her, fixing her with that sad look again. "They symbolize secret love in Midgardian flower language."

“I appreciate them,” Sif said, reaching out and putting her hand across his.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bucky's getting his groove back; Loki's getting a little naughty.


	9. All Or Nothing At All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sinatra and Steve were both skinny guys originally
> 
> (update 2 of 2 for 6/26)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing. Love all your comments and support!

Bucky took Darcy to a little Italian restaurant. It was one of those places with checkered tablecloths and candles in Chianti bottles. Darcy liked it immediately. “This place is cute,” she said to Bucky.

“I like it because it’s quiet and small,” he admitted. “Also, they play Sinatra.”

“You like Sinatra?” Darcy asked.

“I remember him when he was just a skinny little fella, doll.”

“Tell me about that,” Darcy said. “What was he like then?”

“About as big as Steve before the serum,” Bucky said. “I saw him sing “All or Nothing At All” once in 1940.”

“In a concert?” she asked.

“We were a little broke, doll, so I climbed up on the roof of a nightclub and then hung out on a fire escape. Sorta like a concert in the park, I guess?” he said, grinning. “We could see the top of his head through the little window.”

“What did the girl think?” Darcy said.

“Not much of me,” Bucky joked, “I couldn’t afford to buy her dinner and my stomach was almost as loud as Frank’s singing. Dot perked up when Frank started singing “Dolores,” but then we got rustled by security and had to run.”

“Did you get away?” Darcy asked.

“She lost the heel of her shoe,” Bucky admitted guiltily.

She and Bucky split a huge bowl of fettuccine alfredo. It was one of the most pleasant dates that Darcy had ever been on, if it counted as a date. She wasn’t exactly certain, except that Bucky kept smiling at her with such sweetness that it was impossible not to be a little charmed. Also, she liked the way he scrunched his face when he laughed. He laughed a lot.

Then they took a little walk around downtown. There were still twinkle lights in the trees. Somewhere between an antique store and a coffee shop, Bucky leaned down and kissed her.

It was definitely a date.

“I’ve been thinking about asking you out since the night of Strange’s party,” he said, when he pulled away.

“Really?” she asked, smiling.

“Uh-huh. I couldn’t take my eyes off you,” he said softly, before he leaned in again. His lips were very soft and warm. He was kissing the side of her neck and into her hair when she giggled. “Ticklish?” he asked playfully. The stubble on his face had rubbed her neck.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted, biting her lip and blushing. “That feels nice,” she said, moaning softly when he applied a little more pressure against her neck.

“Oh, that’s a pretty sound, doll,” he said in her ear. “What can I do if I want to hear that again?”

"Keep doing that," she whispered, bracing herself against his metal arm. It was very sturdy around her waist.

 

Darcy had expected one of Tony’s guys to pick them up, but it turned out to be Steve instead. He leaned out the car window and wolf-whistled at them.

  
***

Bucky managed to run Steve off before he walked her back to her apartment door. She was making out with him when Tony walked by and snickered.

“No hipsters in the common areas, Itty Bitty. Wait, is that Murderbot?” he asked.

Bucky groaned and pressed his metal arm against her door. “There are too many people in this facility,” he said in a heated voice.

“Did you want to come inside?” she asked.

“Oh God, yes,” he said. Then he sighed. “I oughta treat you nicer than that, though. Take you dancing on New Year’s first,” he said.

“Promise?” she said.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> QueenJuliana126 requested a WinterShock kiss, so ta-da!
> 
> Sinatra's "All Or Nothing At All" from 1939: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5EGbTX9Ifo


	10. Auld Lang Syne I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's NYE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing. Thanks for your comments and kudos!

Tony’s New Year’s Eve party was spectacular. There were hours of fireworks in the early evening. Asta the dog barked at all of them, until Clint actually had to shut him in his room. Then there was a live band and dancing.

 

“Here,” Jane said, when she and Darcy were in the midst of the party, “have some of this. Thor brought it.” She handed Darcy a tiny thimble of purple liquid.

“What is it?” Darcy asked.

“Asgardian love spirits,” Jane said over the music. “It reveals mutual attraction when two people drink it and make eye contact.”

“Sure it does,” Darcy said back. She drank it, but felt nothing more than pleasantly tipsy. It tasted like Chambord liqueur, she thought. Raspberries. 

“The sex afterwards is pretty great, too,” Jane said.

“What happens if one person isn’t interested in going that far on first acquaintance?” Darcy asked, laughing.

“You just walk away and they know it’s a no-go immediately,” Jane said. “It’s really safe, for an Asgardian spirit.”

“Yeah,” Darcy said. She’d had some Asgardian spirits that left you so drunk you saw two moons for days afterwards. “Oh my god, does Clint have a lampshade on his head?”

“No, but I see Bucky,” Jane said.

“Where?” Darcy asked, turning. She didn’t see him. “We’re supposed to dance.”

“He just got grabbed by Thor’s dude huddle,” Jane said.

“He’ll be too drunk to dance,” Darcy said. “That group is three-fourths Asgardians.”

 

***

“My friend,” Thor called to Bucky as soon as he entered the room, “come have a drink with us!” He handed the other man a purple shot.

“What is this?” Bucky asked, holding it to the light.

“Asgard’s famous love spirits,” Steve said, chuckling as he downed a shot. “Helps you flirt, pal. Takes a lot to make me feel anything, though. You just get all warm and fuzzy.”

Thor gave Bucky three or four shots before Bucky started to feel a little warm. He loosened his collar and downed another.

 

***

Several minutes later, Darcy was dancing--platonically, but happily--with Luis. Over his shoulder, she saw Bucky break away from Thor’s huddle of Asgardians and superheroes. He looked very handsome in his tux. He’d even cut his hair into a long pompadour style. The longest strands just grazed those stunning cheekbones.

“Bucky looks all spiffy,” she said to Luis.

“He does, Miss Itty Bitty!” Luis said, craning his head around. “Very fly.”

From across the room, Bucky stopped and stared at her. The smoldering glance he gave her made Darcy feel all flushed. Her heart stuttered. She felt as though her mind--whispering  _ go to him, go to him, go to him,  _ in thump-thump pattern--had suddenly synced with her heartbeat. 

“Excuse me,” she said to Luis. “I need to talk to someone.”

“Yeah, Miss Itty Bitty. You okay?” he asked.

“Better than okay,” Darcy said. She felt bubbly and warm, actually. It was a delicious feeling. A thread of warmth seemed to stretch between she and Bucky, all golden violet in her mind. She was taking a step towards Bucky when he broke their shared glance, turned on his heel, and actually stormed out of the room. 

 

“Buck?” Steve called and followed him. Thor left, too.

 

Darcy felt as if someone had thrown ice cold water on her all of sudden. She even had goosebumps from the sensation of a chill. This, she realized, was how you knew you’d been rejected by a potential lover after drinking Asgardian love spirits.

 

She couldn’t enjoy the countdown to midnight much after that. Bucky never came back, either.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the idea of Asta the movie dog barking at fireworks. 
> 
> Also, I have a soft spot for Sebastian Stan's hair at the Iron Man 3 premiere, so I gave him that haircut. Blame it on my 90s childhood, but those cheekbone length bangs that were popular then are so pretty on him: http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Sebastian+Stan/Arrivals+Iron+Man+3+Premiere+3/KWmEpWUY4fs


	11. Auld Lang Syne II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sif and Loki's NYE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing. Thanks for all your support!

Loki was so distracted by Sif’s beauty in the moonlight that he missed Thor doling out the Asgardian love spirits with a too-generous hand. In his defense, he was very busy kissing her at the time. A panicked Thor found Loki and Sif in an embrace some minutes later and told him that their matchmaking had gone horribly awry.

“Brother, I am afraid I have given Sargeant Barnes too much of the love spirits. He is quite distressed,” Thor said guiltily.

“How much did you give him?” Loki asked, releasing Sif from his arms. She looked at Thor in concern.

“Six shots,” Thor said.

“Six?” Loki said as Sif gasped in horror.

“Seven,” Thor admitted.

“Ye gods, what were you thinking?” Sif asked. “That is not a dose for a human.”

“That is the dosage that allows my brother in arms the good Captain to relax?” Thor said hesitantly.

“Captain Rogers is a paragon of restraint and virtue, of course he needs the quantity that would overpower a cart horse to take off his tie,” Loki said.

“I cannot believe it would cause Sgt. Barnes to do anything truly violent,” Sif said, giving Loki a significant look.

“No, but he is probably hot with a fever or freezing with cold at the moment,” Loki said. “He will be uncomfortable unless she is in his sight until wears off.”

“The good sargeant is very afraid. Perhaps you can reassure him?” Thor asked. “Or calm him with magic?”

“I’ll be right there,” Loki said, sighing.

 

***

 

They watched Thor leave.

Loki turned to the woman next to him. “Sif,” he said, “I am sorry--”

“You were trying to matchmake for them? You did that, even though she broke your heart?” Sif asked him tenderly. She touched his face.

“About that,” Loki began, sighing, “I may have misled you about my friendship with Miss Lewis. We are only friends. We were never together romantically.”

“You lied to me?” Sif said, pulling her hand back as if his skin burned. “I thought she had broken your heart!”

“Sif,” Loki said, reaching out and touching her shoulder tenderly. She shrugged his hand away.

“Go away, Loki,” Sif said, utterly furious. “I cannot believe I have fallen for another of your tricks.”

“I really must go deal with this. I am truly sorry,” Loki said. Sif turned and crossed her arms, refusing to look at him.

 

When he got to the door, he paused and looked at Sif’s back. “She never had my heart to break. I have never given it to anyone but you,” he said, softly.

 

When he shut the door, Sif set her champagne glass down roughly and swore. “Bollocks men,” she muttered. "Bollocks, bollocks." Then she followed Loki and Thor back inside.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Loki.


	12. Auld Lang Syne III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky's NYE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing. Thanks for all your comments and support!

They found Bucky sitting on the floor in his apartment. He was against a wall, rocking. “He’s panicking,” Steve said, worriedly. “This stuff seems to have upset him much more than it ever did with me?”

“Thor shouldn’t have given him your dose. You are uncommonly strong in willpower and physical reserve for a human,” Loki said quietly to Steve. “You need a larger amount than the average person to even flirt with a woman.”

Steve frowned. “Is he going to be okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” Loki said. “He will be fine in the morning. Less if he metabolizes quickly like you.”

“Please don’t let me hurt her,” Bucky said quietly. “Lock me up. I don’t feel in control of myself.”

“Listen to me,” Loki said gently, kneeling down and touching Bucky’s arm. “If this spirit draws you to Darcy as a potential lover, you will not hurt her. She is perfectly safe. What you are feeling is strong attraction and some discomfort because you walked away, but in a thousand years of use on Asgard, no one has ever hurt their partner. It is not a spirit that causes people to become violent or coercive. It only reveals mutual attraction and the drinkers must still all consent to anything after.”

“Are you sure about that?” Bucky said, swallowing. “I was burning up when I saw her and now I’m freezing. I felt like I was on fire.”

“I swear it,” Loki said quietly. “She could rebuff you utterly and you would be able to walk away.”

“I don’t want to test that theory,” Bucky said softly. “I’ve hurt too many people.”

“It has been tested before,” Sif said quietly. “It never fails.”

“You mean you’ve seen someone rebuff someone after drinking this?” Bucky asked.

“I have done it and he did not harm me,” Sif said quietly. “In the centuries since, he has never done me any physical harm, either.”

“Not, perhaps, as a result of a love spirit,” the man kneeling at Bucky’s feet said. “But I’m sure there are other things he regrets.”

“One day, I may decide to forgive him,“ Sif said quietly. “You will be fine and so will she, Sgt. Barnes, I assure you.”

 

Loki was very careful not to look at Sif as she left the room. Instead, he sat down next to Bucky and talked to him.

 

“She was talking about Loki,” Thor stage-whispered to Steve.

“Yeah, I got that,” Steve said. “Hard to miss.”

 

Loki, Thor, and Steve stayed with Bucky until he told them it was okay to go. By then it was almost dawn.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it's really clear that Bucky is in no danger of actually hurting Darcy, he's just having a panic attack because he doesn't feel like himself. I imagine any kind of 'not right' feeling would freak him out.


	13. Wheel of Fortune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nat and Hope decide to spin the wheel for Darcy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing. Thanks for all your kudos and support.

That morning, Darcy decided she needed some air. She took a day trip with Natasha and Hope into the city. They were going shopping. She went mostly for moral support and giving them the thumbs up to various stunning and horribly expensive clothes. Darcy was really more of a sweater and leggings person. Still, she enjoyed their lunch at the restaurant Natasha picked. Russian food was delicious.

“Now, _milaya_ ,” Nat said to Darcy, using her favorite endearment, “please tell me what has gone wrong with Yasha?” Yasha had been Bucky’s nickname when Natasha was still known as Natalya and he had trained her in the Red Room.

“I don’t know, exactly, but I suspect we both had some of Thor’s love punch and he just looked at me and bailed,” Darcy said.

“He left?” Hope asked, raising her eyebrows. She and Scott had spent most of the post-punch segment of their New Year’s entwined like eels.

“He booked it out of there like I was a cop and he had outstanding warrants,” Darcy said.

“That is unfortunate,” Nat said.

“Yeah, that punch makes you feel like you’ve done the ice bucket challenge when your match turns you down,” Darcy said. “I had goosebumps.”

“Ouch,” Hope said. “I’m sorry.”

“What was Yasha like?” Darcy asked Nat. She got the feeling that Yasha had been a scarier version of Bucky. In her mind, she imagined that he probably had that aloof sexy thing Nat had, too. She wondered if he’d taught her that. She and Yasha had a brief affair before HYDRA discovered it and brainwashed him again.

“He laughed much less,” Nat said. “But I found him pleasant.” She did one of those mysterious half-smiles.

“Are you saying you liked him more when he was a terrifying HYDRA assassin?” Hope said, looking gobsmacked.

“We had more in common then,” Nat said, giving an elegant shrug. “I am very happy that he has met someone like you now that he is returning to his former self,” she said to Darcy. “I am not the kind of woman for a man who listens to Kay Starr and wants to argue with Steve about the Dodgers. I would, perhaps, grow frustrated during the baseball games and might harm someone.”

 

“I do like Kay Starr,” Darcy admitted. “Her "Wheel of Fortune" is a great song. But I’m not sure if he’s actually interested in me if that was his reaction to love punch?”

“He has seemed smitten with you for several weeks,” Nat said.

“Maybe getting it is more fun than having it?” Darcy said. Hope shook her head.

“I could set you up with someone?” Hope offered. “Luis thinks you’re very cute?”

“Oh dear God, no,” Nat said. “I forbid it. He talks too much to become a permanent facility resident.”

“Dr. Strange?” Hope said. “He was a real surgeon before he got the cape. I heard he broke up with Christine.”

“That would be more acceptable,” Nat said.

“To you! Are you negotiating me a new boyfriend?” Darcy said, laughing.

“It’s what we do,” Hope said. “We’re badass negotiators.”

 

In the end, Darcy reluctantly agreed to be set up with Stephen Strange. She wasn’t happy about whatever was going on with Bucky, but she understood if maybe he was a bit hesitant about getting involved with her so early in his recovery. Also, that whole ice bucket thing had really sucked. She wasn’t going to chase Bucky if a repeat of that might happen.

 

***

“Is she here?” Bucky asked Jane when he came by the lab that afternoon.

“She took a day trip with Natasha and Hope,” Jane said.

“Oh,” Bucky said. “Listen, about last night,” he began, but Jane stopped him.

“She understands if you had to leave,” Jane said. “Not everybody likes that love spirit.”

“I had a bad reaction,” Bucky said. He missed Jane’s wince. In all the commotion, Thor had not explained that Bucky was afraid of losing control, so Jane assumed that Bucky just wasn’t really interested in Darcy that way. “Will you tell her that I’m sorry?” Bucky asked Jane.

“I’ll tell her,” Jane said quietly. “Would you like to help Scott?” she asked in more normal tone. Scott was near the back of the lab, working on some machines.

“Yeah, these suckers are killing me,” Scott called. “Well, uh, not really. That was maybe a bad choice of words.”

 

Bucky chuckled and went to help him. It took his mind off Darcy. He wasn’t sure how to explain what happened without scaring her.

 

***

Somehow, Hope left her with Nat and disappeared off to Bleeker Street in the middle of their lunch. Darcy suspected she went as the Wasp. She returned via portal and Darcy found herself with a date that night.

“He’s thrilled,” Hope said. “He thinks you’re ridiculously attractive. Which, let’s be real, you are. He was picking out a really nice Armani suit.”

“But I don’t even have an outfit,” Darcy said. This was all happening very fast.

“I will help you,” Nat said.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Hope said. They took her shopping again and had someone from the Dior counter do her makeup.

 

Darcy found herself wearing a blueberry-colored sheath dress, smokey eyeshadow, and heels. She walked into a very fancy restaurant to meet Stephen Strange.

“You look beautiful,” he said, standing when she came up to the table. Her chair slid out by magic. His dark suit and white shirt was much more flattering than his normal cape and magical bling, she admitted to herself.

"Thank you," she said. "You look very handsome as well."

"It's not the usual, but I thought I'd give the cloak a night off," he said, smiling.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Give the cloak the night off"= a slight nod to Peter O'Toole's line about "giving Givenchy the night off" to Audrey Hepburn in How To Steal A Million. Great movie. Dr. Strange is always British in my AUs, anyway. It's a crying shame to take Cumberbatch's accent away.


	14. Smoke Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smoke Dreams is a song from After The Thin Man and also (probably) the name of that dessert, were Loki and Dr. Strange to be in a naming mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing. Thanks for all your comments and kudos! Y'all are great!

Dr. Strange was a perfectly nice date, she thought, if a bit reserved. She told him funny astrophysics and Loki stories until he cracked a smile. After that, he relaxed and told her about his travels and explorations with magic. Darcy had taken some mindfulness courses at Culver--they were free to students around finals--so they ended up having a long chat about meditation and trying to have a routine in the midst of a strange world.

"I don't know what I'd do without Jon Kabat-Zinn," he said, with the air of someone confessing a dark secret. "I can't tell my old surgical unit friends that, though."

"But wherever you go, there you are with his books," Darcy said jokingly.

“Exactly. I used to be normal,” Strange said. “Adjusting to being Mr. Magic has been..unusually interesting.”

“I gotcha,” Darcy said. “It would be nice for us if things would stop falling from the sky, opening up portals for alien armies, and trying to end the world, right?”

“Most assuredly,” Strange said. “I admire your tenacity. You’ve been in this, shall we say, alternate life for longer than I have and were very brave from the beginning?”

“They’ve told you I tased Thor?” she asked, laughing.

“It is the first thing anyone says,” he said, smiling gently, “they don’t even mention how beautiful you are first.”

“Oh,” Darcy said, slightly stunned.

 

***

When Nat and Hope returned to the facility, they found Bucky waiting with Steve in the common area. “Where’s Darcy?” Bucky asked, hopping up. “I wanted to talk to her.”

“Let me,” Natasha said to Hope. Gratefully, Hope asked Steve to help her carry their bags and boxes, so they could leave Bucky and Nat alone.

“What’s going on?” Bucky asked when they were the only ones in the living room.

“She’s on a date,” Nat said gently.

“Excuse me?” Bucky said.

“We set her up with someone tonight,” Nat said.

“Why the hell would you do that, Natalya?” Bucky asked.

“We were all under the impression that you were no longer interested when you fled last night. Is that not the case?” Nat asked him coolly.

“Natalya, you know I’m interested. I had a damn panic attack last night,” Bucky said. “That Asgardian hooch made me feel out of my head. I was worried I’d be a danger.”

"That is very unfortunate," Nat said. "She does not know how you feel."

“Aww, no,” Clint said suddenly, popping his head out a vent above. Beside him, Asta barked.

 

***

“I really am having a wonderful time, Miss Lewis,” Dr. Strange told her near the end of their meal. “Would it be possible to take you to a concert this weekend?” he asked.

Darcy sighed. “You’re very kind, but there is someone,” she said. She’d spent most of the night wishing he was Bucky at varying rates. More when they had someone in the restaurant playing jazz on the piano. Strange was a nice man, but she still felt a little ache in the general area of her heart.

“Ah,” he said, “my loss is his gain. Miss Van Dyne led to me to believe you were unattached.”

“It’s, um, a bit awkward-ish,” Darcy said. “There was an incident with some of Thor’s Asgardian love spirits. We both drank some.”

“Not to be trifled with, I hear,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“Particularly if the person who is your match flees like the sight of you is a second Chitauri invasion,” Darcy said, laughing and rolling her eyes. “I think Hope and Nat are trying to shore up my self-esteem with a very good-looking and eligible surgeon.”

Dr. Strange had the decency to blush. “You flatter _my_ self-esteem, Miss Lewis,” he said.

He took her rejection with exceptional good grace and insisted she have dessert. “You must,” he said, “it is not to be missed.” As it transpired, he had a few tricks of his own. After the waiter brought it to the table, the chocolate cake suddenly crackled and sparked with little flames.

“Oh, you should teach this one to Loki,” Darcy said. “It’s beautiful.”

“Who says he didn’t teach it to me?” Strange asked playfully.

“Which one of you did those holiday lights? I was very impressed,” Darcy said.

“He volunteered his services. We worked on them together,” Strange said.

“He’s being very well-behaved these days,” Darcy said. "I'm very proud of him."

“Yes, I was quite surprised, considering that he threatened to assault me before the Ragnarok situation,” Strange said. “It took me a fortnight of observation upstate before I could feel comfortable having him in the Sanctum. I was worried he'd bewitch the armor.”

"It would be a pretty a good trick," Darcy said, scrunching up her face.

"I forbid you from mentioning it, then, Miss Lewis," Strange said with a wry look. Then he actually winked at her. "Especially at or before my next party."

"I promise not to," Darcy said, winking back.

 

They stayed and talked until she began to feel bad for the wait staff. Before they left, Darcy showed him her photographs of New Orleans with Loki. Stephen Strange gave her a smile that was remarkably like a cheery otter. 

 

***

Bucky sat out on one of the patios with Clint, Steve, and Asta. Clint was tossing a ball for the dog.

“This is a helluva mess, Punk,” Bucky said.

“I dunno, who says she likes Strange better’n you, Buck?” Steve said. He always slipped into his Brooklyn accent around Bucky.

“He’s a surgeon who does magic,” Bucky said. “A college man. Saves lives, doesn't take 'em.”

“The other day I heard her tell Jane that his facial hair reminded her of Vincent Price,” Steve said. “I don’t think she meant it as a compliment.”

“Really?” Bucky said. “Price from _Laura_? I thought women thought he was handsome?”

“He did Halloween stuff later, went a little spooky-looking at the end,” Clint said.

“Huh,” Bucky said, rubbing his chin.

“Loki does magic and they're just friends,” Clint pointed out. “I like his magic better.” The archer smiled at the dog.

“Somebody’s singing a different tune since New York,” Steve said in his most innocent voice.

“Shut up, Punk,” Clint said. Bucky snorted. Asta brought his ball to Bucky and wagged his tail.

“All right,” Bucky said at Asta’s whine, throwing the ball as far as his metal arm could manage.

“Cheater,” Clint muttered.

 

 

***

He portaled her back to the facility and said goodnight at her door. “Should you ever happen to change your mind, please call on me at Bleeker St.,” he said softly, kissing her hand. With a last look, he disappeared in a swirl of golden sparks.

“Well,” Darcy said aloud to Friday, “I didn’t realize that otters could look so sad.”

“I believe that they can, Miss Lewis,” the AI said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jon Kabat-Zinn is quite cool, really.


	15. Take Good Care of My Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boom!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing. Thanks for all the support! Y'all are awesome.

Darcy was pretty sure the Winter Soldier was avoiding her. He’d been helping Tony out in his lab for the past week and seemed to be continually leaving a room whenever she entered it. After her third or fourth glimpse of Bucky consisted of seeing the distant glint of his metal arm as he bounded away, she decided that she was going to have to be a Self-Rescuing Damsel of Dating! as well as Science!, all things considered.

So, she stopped Steve in the lab. “Captain America,” she said. “Unhand that device.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Steve said politely, raising his hands in the universal sign of surrender. She’d gotten him into doo wop and he visited the lab to use her record player now.

“I need to know if a certain former assassin is too scared to talk to me?” she asked, taking the record out of Steve’s hand. “Oooh, Bobby Vee. Good choice, Cap.”

“Think Sharon will like it?” he asked cheerfully.

“Maybe, although I don’t know if she’d like you to think she’s a “Take Good Care of My Baby” sort of girl. Try some Nancy Sinatra instead?” Darcy suggested.

“Any relation to Frank?” Steve asked.

“His daughter,” Darcy told him.

“That’s swell. You know, Bucky saw Fra--”

“From a fire escape with Dot,” Darcy said, grinning. “Apparently, he’s less afraid of the mafia than me?”

“I might have an idea where you can find him,” Steve said. “He’s feeling a little outclassed by Dr. Wizard, if I can be honest.”

“What the hell happened, Steve?” Darcy asked.

“Language, sweetheart,” Steve said, winking.

“Steve,” Darcy said, putting her hands on her hips.

“He had a panic attack after that Asgardian stuff on New Year’s. Got scared he hurt would you,” Steve said quietly. “Thor was a bit heavy-handed with the pour, you know?”

“Why did nobody tell me?” Darcy asked. “Nevermind, I don’t care. Where is he now?”

Steve had a decent idea, but Friday was even better.

***

“Hi,” Darcy said to Bucky when they finally ran into each other. Well, she ran. He was walking glumly out of the gym. All sweaty, Darcy noted. He had his gym bag over his shoulder.

“Hello, doll,” Bucky said quietly and kept walking. He had a brooding expression.

“Hey, I’ve got a beef with you! You’re being extremely uncool, pal,” Darcy said to his retreating back. The back of his tank was damp.

“Excuse me?” he said, turning back to look at her.

“You’re just going to bail on me and then never speak to me again because you got scared?” she asked.

“Well, I didn’t want to stand in the way if you preferred somebody like Strange,” he said quietly. ”The only blood on his hands is from saving lives.”

“You cannot seriously believe you are responsib--” Darcy began, when an alarm started to sound and the walls shook. Before she knew it, Bucky had thrown himself over her, shielding her from the explosion.

 

***

In another section of the building, Clint looked at Asta. “Uh-oh, buddy,” he said. A helicopter had landed on the lawn and men were pouring out. “I think that was a rocket launcher. Go out in the woods and hide. Go!” Clint said. He didn’t know how magical dogs fared in a fight and he didn’t want to find out. He and Asta had practiced their emergency drills. Asta scampered off to safety.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In all my AUs, Steve loves doo wop, Dr. Strange is British, and Clint worries about the dog's safety.


	16. Take Good Care of My Baby II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learn somethin' new

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I own nothing! Thanks for all your comments and kudos.

“You okay?” Bucky asked. He’d used his vibranium arm to block a chunk of the ceiling, so they had a little open space around them, despite the surrounding rubble.

“I think so,” Darcy said, looking at herself critically. “No blood.”

“You might still be in shock,” Bucky said, running his hands down her legs. He cupped one of her feet and flexed it a fraction, then did the other. “You feel that?” he asked. “Both feet?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Both.” He was checking her back for debris or cuts, when their eyes met. His face was very close to hers.

“Look, Buck,” Darcy began, intending to tell him she wasn’t dating Strange, but he turned away.

“I shouldn’t have treated you like that, doll,” he said softly.

“No, you shouldn’t have,” she said. Then she did something that surprised even her: she leaned over, turned his head gently, and kissed him on the mouth. His lips were dry and a bit scratchy with dust, but he kissed her back. He gripped the back of her neck with his metal fingers and stroked her hair.

“Sugar,” he whispered, “I’m crazy about you.”

“Mmm, feeling’s mutual,” she said. Even his sweat smelled really good to her.

 

They were still kissing when they heard gunshots in the distance. “Damn it,” Bucky growled. “I need to get you to a safe room.”

“I was sort of hoping Tony had just blown something up again,” Darcy said, sighing.

“Here, use this as a cover,” Bucky said, handing her his denim jacket from out of his gym bag. She stuck it over her head while he punched their way out of the debris, using his metal arm like a battering ram.

“Whoa,” Darcy said, as he pulled her out carefully. He’d punched a human-sized hole in the debris. He’d always been very gentle with her and she had no idea his arm had that kind of power. He chuckled.

“Where’s the nearest safe room?” he asked her, making sure she stayed behind him.

“Down this way,” she said, gesturing. He pulled out a gun from under his shirt. She hadn’t realized he still carried one. When she told him, he grinned.

“Four of ‘em,” he said. “Plus some knives in my boot.”

“Okay,” she said, impressed. “You can tell me more about that when we’re on our next date.” She hid behind him as he returned fire at somebody around a corner.

“Yeah? I forgot to ask about Dr. Magic?” Bucky said.

“Nothing doing,” she told him dryly. “That was just Nat and Hope’s idea. You can ease up.”

Bucky laughed. “You stealing my slang now?” he asked.

“I’d take one of your guns, too,” she said. He handed her one.

“Rule one: Don’t point it anybody you don’t want dead,” he said.

“Rule two?” she asked.

“Torso’s easier to hit than the head, doll,” he said. “Also, keep your eyes open when you pull the trigger. I’ll teach you soon.”

Darcy was actually glad she hadn’t had to shoot anybody yet. She wasn’t sure if she could hold her eyes open. “Did you know Edward G. Robinson flinched whenever he had to shoot blanks in the movies playing gangsters?” she asked Bucky.

“No kidding,” Bucky said. “Learn somethin’ new everyday.”

 

***

“Anybody got eyes on Murderbot?” Tony was asking. He’d suited up already.

“Nope!” Clint said from his perch in the rafters. He’d already shot a fair number of guys with arrows.

“Sgt. Barnes is leading Miss Lewis to the safe room already occupied by the Wombats,” Friday said. “He says to expect him momentarily.”

“Tell him we need him on the northeast quadrant,” Nat said. "Loki and Sif have the southwest side covered in Asgardians."

"Brawling quite joyfully, from the sound of it," Tony said. 

“Ants are in position to swarm their transport,” Scott said.

“Take it down,” Steve said in his Captain’s orders voice.

“Yes, sir!” Scott said.

 

***

“I gotta go get some bad guys, doll,” Bucky said, once they’d gotten to the hallway with the nearest safe room. As Darcy put her palm on the sensor to open the door, he kissed her again.

Jane and the Wombats looked at them. “Safe now, kiss later,” Kurt said, gesturing for Darcy to get inside. She got in and watched Bucky head back down the hall as the doors sealed shut.

“I have a gun,” Darcy announced.

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Dave said in a not-at-all-reassured voice.

“It is,” Luis said, smiling at her. Kurt muttered something in Russian.

“You guys are back together?” Jane said, beaming. “Since when?”

“Just now. No thanks to anybody, by the way. I had to corner Steve and threaten his record player privileges before anybody’d tell me anything,” Darcy said.

***

 

When the fighting was over, Thor and Bucky headed to the safe room. Jane ran into Thor’s embrace, the Wombats hopped out talking happily, and Bucky leaned against the door. Darcy was the last one to leave. She looked at a dirty and serious Bucky. He was a little bloody.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's, uh, not my blood," he said.

“Comrades,” Thor boomed, “Tony of the Starks is hosting a great celebration in honor of our success in battle! We have defeated the invaders!”

The Wombats were enthusiastic about that news. So was Jane. They’d gotten hungry in the room. Darcy had forgotten to pack her Pop-Tarts.

“You feel like a party?” Bucky asked Darcy tentatively.

“Is everyone okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Bucky said.

“Even Asta?”

“Clint made him hide in the woods,” Bucky said, grinning.

“Good,” Darcy said. “In that case I think I’d like to skip Tony’s party.”

 

Bucky looked disappointed. “Okay, doll,” he said softly, rubbing his metal arm.

“How are the residential apartments?” she asked.

“Fine,” he said.

“So, you’ll show me your apartment then?” Darcy.

“What?” he said.

“I thought we could throw a private party instead,” she said.

Bucky grinned. "I'd like that, doll."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't decide if this is a natural end or if it needs more scenes? Like, I sort of want to see that private party and/or a scene of a reunited Sif & Loki?


End file.
